Alan 'Fluff' Freeman dies at 79 - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Nicky Horne has a rock show on Planet Rock on digital radio. I think he's on every weekday afternoon. You can listen to him online too.

Alan Freeman, John Peel, Tommy Vance... there's a new holy trinity up there.

Sleep well, Alan

Jon Lord 1941 - 2012

Sad news indeed. RIP Alan, we will not forget you.

Quote from Tim Blackmore, Fluff's personal manager, on Yahoo this morning :

"We will not see his like again, and our debt in response to his contribution is without equal."

Says it all, really.

The news that had to come one day, but its still too soon. Goodbye Alan, and thank you for forming my musical taste with your legendary "Saturday Rock Show".

Great memories...I am truly sorry that you are gone.

He was a fundamental part of my music education and a great champion of Prog and Heavy Rock.

I didnt realise he was so old!

I'm afraid I'm not quite of your generation.... when I was about 10, he was still on Radio 1 on Sundays, but presenting Top 40 charts of yesteryear, which didn't appeal to me, even then, although I was aware of his Rock legacy....

...yeah, it's a sad day and he'll be greatly missed... RIP.

Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson

I began (seriously) listening to Alan on the Saturday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 in the early seventies. His programme was a revelation because he played the heavy and progressive rock which was in a boom period, mainly from album sales and shows, but which received little air play. He had really great jingles and a presentation style which seemed to be addressing me personally - after all, I really was a 'music lover'. Alan loved Emerson, Lake and Palmer, as did I, and played them often. Really, I cannot find the words to express what that show meant to me as a teenager. I loved Alan Freeman and when I heard of his passing it brought a tear to my eye as if I had known him.

Another great DJ who will be sadly missed.

I'm sorry to read of the passing yesterday of former BBC DJ Alan "Fluff" Freeman (see news.bbc.co.uk for obituary).

Freeman was very instrumental in bringing rock music - and prog rock in particular - into mainstream radio broadcast in Britain during the '60s and '70s. In addition to my friends, he was one of those who had a great influence on the music that I listened to and grew to enjoy.

Britain has never really had the same culture of "specialist" radio stations - in the same way they do in North America - which played a particular genre of music. During those early prog years, you had to rely pretty much exclusively on BBC Radio 1 for your popular music needs, and the DJs who pushed the envelope to play stuff outside of the Top 40 environment were few and far between. John Peel was one, Freeman another.

Freeman's Saturday afternoon programme would regularly feature Yes, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, PFM and many, many others.

Thanks, Alan, for being one of those people who helped me to find my way along the path to good music! Clap

"We did it....you and me! Put him right under the table!"

me too, always used to do my physics homework listening to his show on saturday afternoon.

great bloke. not 'arf

Proud to be an un-banned member since 2005

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VanderGraafKommandöh Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372	Topic: Alan 'Fluff' Freeman dies at 79 Posted: December 01 2006 at 05:30
	Nicky Horne has a rock show on Planet Rock on digital radio. I think he's on every weekday afternoon. You can listen to him online too.


Dick Heath Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Jazz-Rock Specialist Joined: April 19 2004 Location: England Status: Offline Points: 12815	Posted: December 01 2006 at 05:19
	DON'T forget the great Kenny Everett who was the first to play Sgt Pepper on the radio. BTW what ever happened to Nicky Horne?
	The best eclectic music on the Web,8-11pm BST/GMT THURS. CLICK ON: http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/lcr/live.php Host by PA's Dick Heath.

Jim Garten Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Retired Admin & Razor Guru Joined: February 02 2004 Location: South England Status: Offline Points: 14693	Posted: December 01 2006 at 03:09
	Alan Freeman, John Peel, Tommy Vance... there's a new holy trinity up there. Sleep well, Alan
	Jon Lord 1941 - 2012

Prog.Sylvie Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 12 2006 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 449	Posted: November 30 2006 at 09:18
	Keith Emerson and Greg Lake words about this lost. I like their way of writing. Very nice message. http://www.keithemerson.com/MiscPages/RememberingAlanFreeman.html http://www.greglake.com/newsite/newhotsheet.asp
	C'est la vie

bjl 2003 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: October 24 2006 Status: Offline Points: 33	Posted: November 29 2006 at 03:11
	Sad news indeed. RIP Alan, we will not forget you. Quote from Tim Blackmore, Fluff's personal manager, on Yahoo this morning : "We will not see his like again, and our debt in response to his contribution is without equal." Says it all, really.

AcostaFulano Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 16 2005 Location: Peru Status: Offline Points: 189	Posted: November 28 2006 at 20:07
	Wow he must've been such a respected and beloved guy RIP

Snow Dog Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: March 23 2005 Location: Caerdydd Status: Offline Points: 32995	Posted: November 28 2006 at 17:45
	The news that had to come one day, but its still too soon. Goodbye Alan, and thank you for forming my musical taste with your legendary "Saturday Rock Show". Great memories...I am truly sorry that you are gone.


salmacis Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Content Addition Joined: April 10 2005 Status: Offline Points: 3928	Posted: November 28 2006 at 17:04
	I wasn't even alive then, but his show sounded terrific, I must say. He was behind an Atlantic prog sampler called 'By Invitation Only', too. I heard an interview on a programme on Radio 2 around the time he retired, and he was still praising prog rock and heavy rock even then. I used to listen to his show 'Pick Of The Pops' on Radio 2 a few years ago- until Dale Winton took over. 'Fluff' used to have ELP songs as the jingles on that. He'll be hugely missed- surely one of the most respected DJs, and seemingly one of few that stuck by his musical principles.

Tony R Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: July 16 2004 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 11979	Posted: November 28 2006 at 16:59
	He was a fundamental part of my music education and a great champion of Prog and Heavy Rock. I didnt realise he was so old!

Syzygy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: December 16 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 7003	Posted: November 28 2006 at 14:53
	The world just became a little quieter and heaven just became quite a bit noisier. RIP Fluff - not 'arf!
	'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom

Jared Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: May 06 2005 Location: Hereford, UK Status: Offline Points: 19705	Posted: November 28 2006 at 11:32
	I'm afraid I'm not quite of your generation.... when I was about 10, he was still on Radio 1 on Sundays, but presenting Top 40 charts of yesteryear, which didn't appeal to me, even then, although I was aware of his Rock legacy.... ...yeah, it's a sad day and he'll be greatly missed... RIP.
	Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson

Paul Stump Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: September 28 2006 Status: Offline Points: 43	Posted: November 28 2006 at 11:22
	A giant of broadcasting - someone who could find good in all music, not just prog. But all progheads should give thanks for him. A lovely guy also. Ta-ta, Fluff and RIP.

Big Ears Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 08 2005 Location: Hants, England Status: Offline Points: 727	Posted: November 28 2006 at 09:47
	I began (seriously) listening to Alan on the Saturday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 in the early seventies. His programme was a revelation because he played the heavy and progressive rock which was in a boom period, mainly from album sales and shows, but which received little air play. He had really great jingles and a presentation style which seemed to be addressing me personally - after all, I really was a 'music lover'. Alan loved Emerson, Lake and Palmer, as did I, and played them often. Really, I cannot find the words to express what that show meant to me as a teenager. I loved Alan Freeman and when I heard of his passing it brought a tear to my eye as if I had known him.

CandyAppleRed Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 25 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 166	Posted: November 28 2006 at 09:10
	Ah, sad indeed. He once played Earth & Fire’s “Storm and Thunder” for me in the 70’s when he did his Saturday afternoon Prog show, and read out a letter I sent in about the Enid. The weird thing was that I had sent it in months before, and normally at the time of year he played it I would have been playing cricket so I’d not have heard it, but I was just back from holiday and luxuriating in the bath when my name was read out. Nearly bl00dy drowned! Can’t remember if I got a “not ‘arf” though. Them were t'days - 2 hours of prog on mainstream radio on a Saturday afternoon! RIP Fluff, you were a another one of the good'uns. Edited by CandyAppleRed - November 28 2006 at 09:12

chopper Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 13 2005 Location: Essex, UK Status: Offline Points: 20030	Posted: November 28 2006 at 08:14
	Another great DJ who will be sadly missed.

Neil Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: October 04 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1497	Posted: November 28 2006 at 05:04
	I had the pleasure of working with him a couple of times in the 90's. First at Radio 1 and then Capital Gold. He was a top bloke, always polite and friendly unlike many of his colleagues in radio. Rock on Alan, not arf.
	When people get lost in thought it's often because it's unfamiliar territory.

Norm Cash Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 01 2005 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 280	Posted: November 28 2006 at 04:38
	I'm sorry to read of the passing yesterday of former BBC DJ Alan "Fluff" Freeman (see news.bbc.co.uk for obituary). Freeman was very instrumental in bringing rock music - and prog rock in particular - into mainstream radio broadcast in Britain during the '60s and '70s. In addition to my friends, he was one of those who had a great influence on the music that I listened to and grew to enjoy. Britain has never really had the same culture of "specialist" radio stations - in the same way they do in North America - which played a particular genre of music. During those early prog years, you had to rely pretty much exclusively on BBC Radio 1 for your popular music needs, and the DJs who pushed the envelope to play stuff outside of the Top 40 environment were few and far between. John Peel was one, Freeman another. Freeman's Saturday afternoon programme would regularly feature Yes, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, PFM and many, many others. Thanks, Alan, for being one of those people who helped me to find my way along the path to good music!
	"We did it....you and me! Put him right under the table!"

VanderGraafKommandöh Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372	Posted: November 28 2006 at 04:24
	Ah, sad news indeed. I wasn't aware of Fluff in his heyday, but I've heard a lot about him since then. Requiscat in pace, Alan.


NutterAlert Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 07 2005 Location: In transition Status: Offline Points: 2808	Posted: November 28 2006 at 04:11
	me too, always used to do my physics homework listening to his show on saturday afternoon. great bloke. not 'arf
	Proud to be an un-banned member since 2005

mystic fred Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: March 13 2006 Location: Londinium Status: Offline Points: 4252	Posted: November 28 2006 at 04:10
	I remember on January 1st 1977 he played the "new"Genesis album "Wind and Wuthering" in its entirety. Apart from being a huge Genesis fan, he was also known as " the grandfather of heavy metal".
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